Individuals and businesses are becoming progressively reliant on communication networks to send and receive information. For example, individuals may utilize communication networks for voice communications, research, and entertainment, and organizations typically require the use of high speed data networks such as the Internet for conducting critical business transactions. To access these communication services, people are frequently turning to wireless communication devices.
Due to the mobile nature of wireless communication devices, such devices enable the user to conduct voice calls and access information over a communication network from any location within range of a wireless signal from a communication service provider. As a result, people are increasingly utilizing wireless communication devices while traveling in automobiles. A user of a wireless communication device desires a strong wireless signal, clear voice transmissions, high speed data transfers, long battery life, and minimal dropped calls and transmission errors, regardless of whether the user is operating the device in a fixed terrestrial location or when traveling in a mobile vehicle. Factors that may affect the signal strength of the user's wireless communication device include the device's antenna gain, the line of sight of the device's antenna to a serving base station, and the amount of interference from radio frequency (RF) shielding that the wireless communication device may be exposed to in a given operating environment.